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Poster:	Death&Mercy	Date:	February 16, 2013 09:29:22am
Forum:	GratefulDead	Subject:	Re: Was Jerry a Lazy Songwriter?

I agree that neither GSET nor St Cir were great tunes in their own right, but each acted as a vehicle to bring out the best in the Dead in their respective periods. How much credit should we give Weir? I guess you could argue that if he had not written the songs, something else just as good might very well have popped up instead. You could probably say the same about a song like TOO (you really can't make that case when it comes to Jerry's best stuff).

Anyway, good discussion.


GSET: http://archive.org/details/gd72-09-28.sbd.bill.12657.sbeok.shnf

St Circumstance: http://archive.org/details/gd81-05-06.glassberg.vernon.17697.sbeok.shnf

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Poster:	AltheaRose	Date:	February 16, 2013 08:37:21pm
Forum:	GratefulDead	Subject:	Re: Was Jerry a Lazy Songwriter?

Definitely. But you could also say that about LLR, LL/Supp, Stranger ... actually even PITB. The basic Main Ten theme wasn't written by Weir (or at least I don't think it was; it seems to emerge in a jam), and IMO that's the best part of what's "written."

Basically he has a few moments of individual brilliance (TOO, Sugar Mag) that became inseperably definitive of the Dead, but much of what he wrote pre-80s was interesting mainly because it became a great jam vehicle. So he was doing in songwriting what he did with the band: support the others in a perfect way.

You make a good point that if they didn't have Weir's songs -- his "hooks to hang the musical hat on," basically -- they'd have been doing what? Waiting for Godot? Lesh wasn't going to write. Jerry definitely WAS writing during the time that Weir produced the jam vehicles, and he was writing a lot, but the Dead musical machine was a hungry one. "New every night" means too much of everything isn't even quite enough.

So they needed a lot, and pre-80s, both Bob and Jerry stepped up to the plate and produced a lot. Jerry's stand up on their own as melodies, whereas Bob's tend to work best as vehicles for the others. So he's a fantastic contender for Best Supporting Player. He's Sam Gamgee to Jerry's ... well, I guess Jerry wouldn't really be Frodo.

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Poster:	Uncle_John	Date:	February 17, 2013 11:18:48pm
Forum:	GratefulDead	Subject:	Re: Was Jerry a Lazy Songwriter?

Althea -

Maybe Jerry was more Bilbo than Frodo in that he reluctantly became the leader of the mission but, after finding the ring, was consumed and destroyed by it.

Bob doesn't fit well into the Bilbo scenario.

- John